DISPUTES FILED

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 279, 25 November 1941, Page 2

DISPUTES FILED

DOMINION DRIVERS PASSENGER AND GENERAL. Advice has been received by the Auckland Drivers' Union that disputes relative to the passenger transport and general drivers' awards have been filed in Wellington. Although it is not yet known when the disputes will b% before the Conciliation Council, it is anticipated that the discussions will take place towards the end of January next. It was stated by the secretary of the Drivers' Union, Mr. L. G. Matthews, this morning that increases in wages were being sought in both instances to offset the increase in the cost of living. At the present time, he added, passenger transport drivers in city and suburban areas were observing a 40-hour week, and service car drivers an 88-hour fortnight, and for the latter section a 40-hour week was being sought. The general drivers' award was similar to that of the passenger drivers' award, in that it catered for two sections of workers—town and suburban carriers and country operators licensed under the Transport Licensing Act, 1936. The hours of drivers outside cities and suburbs were 88 a fortnight, with a maximum number in any one week of 52, and the union was now claiming a weekly wage based on a 40-hour week and overtime rates for all time worked in excess of 44 hours, the first four hours' overtime to be at ordinary rates.